The Book of Na'Lon

or rather, Inane Ramblings of an Expatriot

For just a few hours I would appreciate the sole use of my brain for work purposes. I would like to get on with stuff without internal replays of theme-music, or snatches of scenes to write.

That goes for all Barrayarans, Betans, Drascans and other Sebeceans, Centauri (yes, I know it's been a while since I have paid much attention to you lot), Angels, Evas and pilots and all other Nerv or Seele personnel. And yes, Ta'Kiri, it goes for you, too.

Yep. 'Shards of Honor' to be precise. The foundress of a certain Soc T leant it to me. I can't remember how we ended up getting onto it, but it was at Tolkien 2005. Just before O'moot I then got an email saying 'Vorkosigan' in the title line. It left me somewhat bemused until I suddenly remembered you'd told me about Miles. So I decided the email was safe to open.

Glad I did open it, too, 'cause I have been avidly reading the book since the last weekend. Good stuff, nice prose. And the Barrayaran's are like Centauri on speed. Eat your heart out, JMS! And... Aral Vorkosigan is far more like (I imagine) Melco then I am entirely comfortable with. ;-)

Re: PS

I know just what you mean! When I go to bed, all the fictional characters wake up, like Bagpuss in reverse. They're never more vocal than in the middle of the night, when they all compete to see who can shout out their dialogue the loudest. It's all very nice, and all... but sometimes I just they'd shut up and let me sleep.

*nods* Yes. Last night I battled them all down with some Yoga breathing exercises, and so got some sleep. It took me a while, though, because no sooner have I managed to get one lot of characters to pipe down, another lot appears. When they start talking to each other from across different genres and books/shows/films/roleplaying games, I know I am in trouble. At the moment my head just feels too full!

I wrestle them into a lead-lined chest and lock them in. The only ones I leave out are well-behaved characters from ancient obsessions. These I put through a nice, cliched adventure that they've been through a million times before. They're so dazed with boredom now that they just say their lines, and don't argue. And, somewhere along the way, I fall asleep. Works every time...

Except that when I've got a new or active obsession, or am currently writing something (i.e. about ninety percent of the time), the characters in the lead-lined box escape...